A Sheffield woman with terminal cancer who continues to attend her grandson’s football games while she battles against the destructive disease has been hailed as a Parent in Sport hero.

Pamela Mellars, 71, was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2012 and doctors told her that the disease was incurable. In the face of her illness, she has continued to cheer on her grandson, Ben, at his football matches for Aston Swallownest.

Read the One Two Mag HERE

Angela Sharp, Pamela’s daughter, has nominated her mum as part of Parent in Sport Week for the support she gives to Ben, aged 13, as he develops his football skills.

Angela said: “I’ve nominated my mum as part of Parent in Sport Week because she’s always shown an interest in Ben’s footballing ever since he started playing eight years ago. She’s so enthusiastic about the sport and at his games.

“Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with terminal skin cancer in 2012 which came as a huge blow to the entire family. Since finding out about her illness, my mum has been knocked back time and time again as the disease develops.

“She’s had a number of operations to try and fix the skin cancer as it was incredibly aggressive. She’s had to have her eye and parts of her skull removed to get rid of the cancer.

“Last year she was also diagnosed with lung cancer which resulted in the removal of a quarter of her lung. This has had a massive effect on her breathing and she gets worn out easily.

“On top of all of this, my dad Michael passed away in February of this year. He had primary-progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and my mum was his main carer for a number of years. Unfortunately, when she became ill she struggled to keep this up.”

Four years on from her first diagnosis, Pamela is still attending her grandson Ben’s football games whenever she can. Ben has played for Aston Swallownest since he was four-years-old and is currently part of the Under 14s team.

Design and print yours for FREE

“In spite of all that life’s thrown at her, my mum has still continued to show her support for Ben by cheering him on at his matches.

“My mum grew up with football, it’s her background. Her brother, Andy Burgin, even played for Sheffield Wednesday so it’s in her blood.

“She is so focused on the sport, it’s all she ever watches. She and Ben are constantly chatting about the latest matches. She is the person my son talks to about football, she advises him, guides him and loves him very much.

“To look at her, you’d think she was this frail, little old lady – 71 years old, weighing six-and-a-half stone – but she’s the toughest person I know. Everyone thinks she’s amazing and she really is so strong.

“Mum still goes to the hospital quite regularly these days but she’s coping. She’s getting better every day and we think she is finally cancer free – fingers crossed!

“I am incredibly proud of my mum for how she’s dealt with everything over the past few years, especially for how supportive she is of Ben.

“I want her to know how much it means to me and Ben that she continues to come to his football matches and show such enthusiasm about this sport that they both love.

As we came to the end of the 2014-15 season, the Ormskirk & District Sunday League are already looking ahead to the new season and have started their recruitment drive for new team. As part of this, they are asking the questions – Where have all the pub teams gone?

Shares in Google were first publically sold on 19th August 2004, according to Wikipedia. At $85 a share, if you’re in anyway interested.

At around the same time, a couple of internet searches would have probably thrown up almost identical results. Those searches would have been “local pubs” and “local Sunday football teams”.
Over the decades there has been an intrinsic link between the local pub and Sunday morning football – until recently. A glance at the make-up of the Ormskirk and District Sunday league gives a perfect example of the decline of this sporting tradition.

As recently as the last decade this league consisted of teams operated from hostelries in Ormskirk, Maghull, Lydiate, Crosby, Netherton and Kirkby. The league’s Stanley Bowl was awarded to Melling Victoria recently – it’s 40th winner. Looking at the engravings of previous winners you can see The Alt, The Everest, Hare and Hounds, Harrock, The Mogul Coach and Horses, Mariners, Greyhound, The Cockbeck, Eden Vale and many more local “boozers”.

The Ormskirk league now only has 3 teams from the Maghull (MCA), Crosby (The Liver) and Ormskirk (Eureka) areas. The only area bucking the trend is Kirkby. Chris Bull, League Secretary comments, “Kirkby is the one area where the pubs seem to still support local football. I’m pretty sure every pub there has a team, some two. The Mariners, The Falcon, The Fantail, the Railway, The Windmill and others all have strong links with their football teams. For some reason this no longer seems to be the case in Ormskirk, Maghull, Lydiate and the other areas where we traditionally had teams playing in league. We’d like that to change and encourage teams to form, re-form or in some cases return to the league.”

So, why the decline? Is discipline a problem? Not according to Chris. “This year has seen the lowest number of cautions and red cards for many years and this number has been on a steady decline for the last 5 years. Granted, there have been some issues with certain clubs, but they are no longer with the league and discipline is good – indeed at a recent league meeting club secretaries asked for referees to be even tougher with players!”.
Is the standard poor? Eddie Pope, Chairman of the Ormskirk league answers “The top teams of our league consist of players that play to a good standard on Saturday so that’s not an issue. Our second division though also caters for teams just looking for a competitive game of football of a Sunday morning”

The challenge has therefore been set to footballers in those areas mentioned above – get your boots back on, form a team and play Sunday football.

Teams interested in joining the league can contact Chris Bull on chrissybull6@gmail.com or Eddie Pope on eddiegpope@hotmail.com
Story courtesy of the Liverpool FA Read more at http://www.liverpoolfa.com